Follow the Sun for HomeKit is a lifestyle utility for Apple HomeKit users that automates color temperature and brightness transitions on iOS.
Product velocity
Dormant
Daily rank 🇺🇸
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Lifestyle
Sentiment
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Nemesis
Hubspace
The App DNA
What makes this app unique?
Users hire this app to achieve circadian lighting effects without the manual effort of configuring dozens of complex HomeKit scenes.
For Smart home enthusiasts using Apple HomeKit who seek advanced lighting automation without manual scene configuration.
What does it look like?
Key features
Automatically adjusts bulb color temperature based on current brightness levels, reducing manual scene management.
Automates light transitions over periods of an hour or more, creating subtle environmental shifts.
Leverages Mac hardware for persistent background automation listeners, ensuring consistent execution.
How much does it cost?
The app is currently free with no visible monetization, limiting its ability to fund future development or platform expansion.
Velocity
Dormant developmentShow more...
5 versions in history. Development pace: zombie.
Who built it?
CoreBits
5 apps tracked · Lifestyle
Signals for HomeKit
Checkbook - Bills to Budget
GLP 1 Tracker - Within Reach
Mind Map with Brainstorm/AIUser Sentiment
What do users think recently?
How are ratings & reviews evolving?
Not enough recent reviews to extract reliable themes yet.
Read the full review analysisCompetition
Competitive landscape for Follow the Sun for HomeKit
How's the Lifestyle market?
The app occupies a specialized niche in the Lifestyle category, focusing on circadian lighting rather than general device management. Its lack of monetization and hardware-dependent architecture contrast with the high-frequency update cadence and broad hardware support of rivals like Hubspace.
Read the market outlookThe rivals identified
By Afero, Inc.
Hubspace competes directly by providing a comprehensive management layer for smart home devices, targeting the same users seeking to automate their home environment.
- Offers deep integration with a wide ecosystem of smart home hardware beyond just lighting.
- Provides native home screen widgets for rapid device control without opening the full app.
- Maintains a high-frequency update cadence, ensuring compatibility with the latest smart home standards.
KMC - ConnectContender
ClimaSmart: Thermostat RemoteContender
Siemens Connected HomeContender
Eopt HomeContenderUnlock the head-to-head verdict: where this rival wins, and where it loses.
Access the full report for freeThe Analyst's Read
Key takeaways for Follow the Sun for HomeKit
Where is it heading?
The smart home market is consolidating around broad-platform management, leaving niche apps like Follow the Sun for HomeKit exposed to feature-absorption by larger rivals. The app's future hinges on transitioning from a Mac-dependent utility to a more accessible, monetized platform to sustain development against better-funded competitors.
- The lack of a monetization model restricts the app's ability to fund the high-frequency updates needed to maintain compatibility with evolving smart home standards.
- The app's niche focus on circadian lighting provides a defensible position against generalist competitors, but limits the total addressable market size.
The SWOT
- Circadian lighting automation logic reduces manual scene management overhead.
- Mac-based listener architecture ensures persistent automation execution without cloud latency.
- Wearable integration could provide the quick-toggle controls currently missing in the UI.
- B2B partnerships with smart bulb manufacturers could establish the app as a default lighting controller.
Next best moves
Pivot the Mac-only requirement to a cloud-based or hub-based architecture because the current hardware barrier restricts the user funnel → increase install velocity.
+ 1 more prioritized moveThe counter-intuitive read
The app's reliance on a Mac-based engine is not just a technical limitation…
Read the full takeFeature gaps
Home screen widgets (available in Hubspace but missing here) +2
Since the last report: The app's competitive outlook has shifted to emphasize the risks posed by broad-platform smart home managers, with new focus on closing feature gaps like widget support.
Bottom line
Follow the Sun for HomeKit offers a specialized automation mechanism for circadian lighting, but the persistent Mac requirement and lack of monetization limit its growth, so the PM should prioritize cross-platform accessibility to compete with broader smart home platforms.
Unlock 2 critical frictions, 2 market threats, 1 more prioritized move and the analyst’s take.
Access the full report for freeFAQ
Does Follow the Sun for HomeKit work with all smart bulbs?
Do I need to keep my Mac on for the automations to work?
How does this compare to Hubspace?
Sources
Report last updated